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After some time, the car stopped abruptly. I was grateful because the bumpy roads had been making me want to throw up and I was sure my captor wouldn’t have appreciated that.

The car door opened, and the man pulled me out of the car by the chains on my hands. The metal cut into my flesh, causing me to cry out.

“Chup. Shut up, you stupid bitch. Get up.” I stood as best I could. He pressed the end of the barrel into my back. “Walk.”

The air was so heavy and thick that it suffocated me. My body broke out into a sweat immediately under the fabric of my evening gown, but I couldn’t tell if it was from the humidity or the adrenaline.

We walked up a pathway to a big pink building. It looked almost like a castle. Men with rifles lined the stairs to the front door. I hesitated before taking the first step. My captor didn’t like that much and hit me with the butt of his gun on the back of my head. My eyes teared up in reflex.

“That’s no way to treat our guest, Motu.” A short man with sunken eyes and hollow cheekbones stood in the doorway at the top of the steps. His neck was covered by that familiar misshapen brown mark.Tarun.

“Come inside. You must be tired from your travels.” He motioned me inside, as if I had a choice to enter. I followed his order and walked into the colorfully tiled foyer. A fountain stood in the middle to show off the grandness of the room.

“Welcome to my home, Amelia.” He stood in front of me, dressed in an Indian jacket made of colorful patches covered in embroidery, which made him look like that maniac from the Batman comics. He was just missing the clown makeup and green hair.

“How do you know my name?” My voice came out shaky, revealing my fear.

“I know everything about you and what you do. We have a—friendin common,” he said, as if we were at a dinner party making small talk.

“I don’t know why you would need me. I’m no one of interest.” Tears threatened to fall from the corners of my eyes.

He stepped closer to me, leaning his face closer to mine to look into my eyes. I could smell his rank breath. “Quite the contrary. You are valuable to my friend; therefore, you areunbelievably valuableto me.”

“Please, let me go. I won’t tell anyone where you are or what happened to me.” I just wanted to go home and end this nightmare.

“Lying to your host is not the best way to start off your vacation, Amelia,” he said, raising his hands in a flourish. I noticed a ring similar to the one Shyam wore, but with a tiger on it.

He studied my face. “I can see why he has kept you a secret. You really are a rare gem with such beautiful red hair. Like a ruby,” he said as he pulled a lock of my hair between his fingers and rubbed it. His lizard-like eyes raked down my body, taking in my revealing outfit. When he raised his eyes again, they settled on my neck.

“That’s a beautiful necklace you have. It looks like something I’ve seen before.” He lifted the pendant with his fingers to examine it.

Oh no.

He yanked the chain off my neck, causing me to yelp. “And you say you’re no one of interest. You’re perhaps the mostinterestingperson I’ve met so far.” Holding out the necklace, he turned to Motu and said, “Send this to our friend, Shyam. I trust you remember where he works. He’ll know what it means.”

Motu took it from his hands and scurried away.

Tarun turned away from me and issued one last command to his men before walking away. “Show our guest to her cell.”

Suddenly, I was yanked away from the foyer by two armed guards.

Chapter XXXII

Shyam

Isat in my suite at Nirvana,a broken man. I had closed the club since Amelia went missing so I could use it for privacy. I hadn’t gone home or even slept in four days. I still wore my suit from the holiday party. My stomach was empty except for copious amounts of scotch.

How had this happened? Security had been so tight. Not even our cameras had caught footage of Amelia being taken.

I kept playing all the terrible things that they could have done to her in my mind and it made me sick.

This couldn’t be happening again. First my mother, then Salena, and now Amelia.

Jai had searched her computer and found that she had found a hit with the decryption algorithm she was running, and a reflection we suspected to be Tarun’s. I had had my men in India scour the city of Jaipur, but Tarun had given us general coordinates for the city, so we didn’t have a specific location of where Amelia might be. It was possible that she wasn’t in Jaipur at all. She could be anywhere.

My brilliant Amelia.Why did I get her involved? I regretted ever hiring her and forcing her to take on such a dangerous mission because of my need for revenge.

Jai entered my office. I didn’t even bother looking up to acknowledge him.

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